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10 Literacy Websites that You'll Be Glad to Know *Before* School Starts

Hello and happy Monday to you! Carla from Comprehension Connection here today to share some of my favorite websites. Now, I am not one to choose a website that kids stare at mindlessly, but rather, I want go-to websites that will help me with modeling the skills my kids need.

The first site I want you to know about was one shared with me during my reading program. It's perfect for small group lessons and tutoring. If you visit the section for educators and navigate to your grade level you will find many lessons and manipulatives to print and take to your students for *free*.

The number two website is perfect for articles to match your content areas as well as other literacy skills. It includes paired text, novel studies, and a large number of leveled articles with comprehension questions. Sometimes students need a second or third "dose" of content information, so check it out for informational text tied to your content.

Do you need help with building vocabulary? This past year, I was looking for Greek and Latin Roots, and this site popped up as I searched. I love the options it has. It's great for modeling, but I can see student using it at home or during independent work time.

If you use reading/writing workshop for your students, you'll just love this fourth website. It is truly one of the best on the web. It has lessons focused on the Six Traits, but many of the lessons also reinforce comprehension as they encourage making predictions, visualizing, character traits, and certainly story structures.

Whether your students are beginning readers, transitional readers, or instructional readers, you will love being able to use this site for modeling. Reading A-Z is most definitely worth the annual membership fee for the wealth of information and materials available. It costs about $90 for a year's membership which provides projectable books you can use with Smartboard tools for Close Reading and to model decoding and word building. I wrote up a blog post about the ways I use Reading A-Z for Adventures in Literacy Land. If you want more information on that, you can check [here].

The next site I am sharing has apps for students and many lesson ideas for teachers. I could spend hours searching through what all is on this site. I especially love the student apps for word building, the project options, and written response apps.

Having a wide repertoire of instructional strategies helps teachers keep things fresh and discussion deep. Reading Quest was started by Raymond Jones at the University of Virginia for content area instruction, but there are great strategies that work for nonfiction and fiction listed. Each strategy is explained and a plain-jane version of the organizer is shared.

Many teachers enjoy using nonfiction text that is current and directly related to what students are learning in class. Newsela is a new site that features nonfiction current event printable and online articles that are free for educational use. Students can take quizzes on the articles, and teachers can observe their progress.

This next site is a great one for use at school or at home. Oxford Owl has wonderful parent videos, interactive educational games, and 250+ stories for students. It's even set up for tablets.

The last website I'm sharing has been around for the past 10-15 years, but it may be unknown to teachers who are just beginning. I like it for introducing and modeling specific skills such as dictionary usage, sequencing information, or synonyms and antonyms. Teachers can select a grade level and skill needed and find mini lessons to project for use with small group or whole group. If laptops are available, the activities could be used for review as well.

As I wind this post up, I realize I think I could have added another ten to fifteen more. If you have a favorite literacy website teacher need to visit, could you please add it with the linky code below?